Offering Scholarships to foreigners are rather pointless in Singapore's context
Anyway - so what's the deal behind the freebie scholarships to foreign students? It seems a great idea to attract foreign talent - and after all we shouldn't forget the Singapore is a city founded by migrants.
But I think it is seriously flawed - no one seems to ask the question - why would they want to remain here? With a good education and no ties to this nation - family or history - they would be better off traveling overseas to greener pastures.
Does anyone keep track of the number of foreign scholars that actually do stay and settle in Singapore?
It was the same case with the Hong Kong migrants in the 1980s - Singapore opened it doors wide for them - but they simply used our nation as a stepping stop to migrate to other places.
While we are at it - is there also any point in importing Sportsmen and sportswomen from China to help us help trinkets at the Olympics? I mean seriously - wtf for?
A nation is very much like a family. We belong to each other. We all share a certain ties, values - based on familial, historical and cultural factors.
On the whimsical side - Singaporeans love Singaporean food. There are some Singaporeans who can't stand living overseas because they can't bear to be without their char kway teow or chicken rice or curry chicken or fishhead curry. This might seem insignificant but it binds us together. This is our culture.
The foreign scholars on the other hand have no ties which bind them to the country. I bet most of them once they get their degree head off back to home or the US, Europe or Australia etc..They have no stake in this land - all they got was an education - an education which they can use elsewhere - And why shouldn't they move? After all Singapore is one of the most expensive places to live
Singapore should do all it can to help its own people first and foremost. Most of the people live in government housing, rely on public transport and generally put up with a lot of shit from the overpaid paternalistic govt servants. Singaporeans get no free lunch. Its not right that the Govt should then offer it to foreigners.
Wouldn't it be better to spend Singapore's tax payer money improving education prospects for Singapore students?
Yau Chiam
*The writer blogs at http://yauming.blogspot.com/